Sunday, September 30, 2018

Hailie Deegan Makes History With K&N Pro Series #Win At Meridian

Deegan Makes History With K&N Pro Series Win At Meridian

First Female Driver To Score Series Victory

Hailie Deegan made history on Saturday night by winning the NAPA AUTO PARTS Idaho 208 at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway and becoming the first female driver to win in the history of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series.

“I was in bed last night thinking, ‘If it comes down, last lap, I’m in second, I’m a car length off of him, what am I going to do?'”, Deegan said. “And I found that Turn 1 spot. I knew what exactly I had to do there. I was doing it to some other people just getting right under them to get them a little light to get them, not wrecking loose, nothing crazy, but enough to just get a little under them and make the pass happen. We did that. I knew exactly what I had to do the last lap. I did it, we executed, and we made it happen.”
Deegan edged out BMR teammate Cole Rouse with a last-lap pass to win by .329 seconds and lead a 1-2-3 finish for BMR. Derek Kraus, who led 190 laps in dominating the event ended up third.

“I was behind Cole and I knew we were faster,” Deegan said of the closing laps. “Cole was over driving a little bit and I knew I was faster if I hit my marks. The last few laps I hit my marks. I knew I had to give Cole a little push up in (Turn) 1 to get past him. I gave him a little nudge and got him a little loose and I got under him and we won.”

Deegan talked about being the first female driver to win in the series.

“It hasn’t even sunk in yet,” she said. “It’s going to be a crazy next couple of days.

“I’m so happy that Toyota and Bill took a chance on me this year,” she said. “They took a chance on me – Jack Irving and Toyota, NAPA, and Bill. They’re the ones who took the chance on me and it paid off.”

Deegan had become the first female to win a pole in the series, setting the fast mark in qualifying at the most recent event on the circuit – at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track earlier this month. Her previous best career finish was second, which she registered on two occasions this year – at Las Vegas (two weeks ago) and at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Oregon in June. That tied the series’ record for highest finish by a woman in either the K&N Pro Series East or West.

With her win, Deegan regained the lead in rookie points for the series and moved to fifth in the overall championship standings. In 12 starts, she has one win, five top-five, and 10 top-10 series finishes.

2018
K&N Pro Series Point Standings

Driver

Races

Points

Diff

1

Derek Thorn

12

505

2

Ryan Partridge

12

473

-32

3

Cole Rouse

12

473

-32

4

Derek Kraus

12

466

-39

5

Hailie Deegan

12

438

-67

6

Trevor Huddleston

12

430

-75

7

Kody Vanderwal

12

412

-93

8

Matt Levin

11

354

-151

9

Takuma Koga

12

333

-172

10

Todd Souza

8

237

-268

11

Will Rodgers

7

230

-275

12

Bill Kann

7

225

-280

13

Jesse Iwuji

6

156

-349

14

Vanessa Robinson

4

143

-362

15

Devin Dodson

4

142

-363

16

Ron Norman

4

131

-374

17

Cole Keatts

3

113

-392

18

Rich DeLong III

4

105

-400

19

Cassie Gannis

3

86

-419

20

Travis Milburn

3

83

-422

(Top Twenty)

Deegan has won multiple championships in off-road racing, where she began her racing career at the age of 8. Her racing resume also includes competition in late models and super late models.

The Meridian race is slated to be televised on NBCSN on Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. PT.

The next event on the K&N Pro Series West schedule will be the NAPA AutoCare / Roseville Toyota 200 presented by TriCo Welding Supplies & the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame at All American Speedway in Roseville, California on Oct. 13.